Faculty Publications
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Item Effects of Earth’s Oblateness on Black Hole Imaging through Earth-Space and Space-Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry(Institute of Physics, 2024) Tamar, A.; Hudson, B.; Palumbo, D.C.M.Earth-based very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) has made rapid advances in imaging black holes. However, due to the limitations imposed on terrestrial VLBI by the Earth’s finite size and turbulent atmosphere, it is imperative to have a space-based component in future VLBI missions. This paper investigates the effect of the Earth’s oblateness, also known as the J 2 effect, on orbiters in Earth-space and space-space VLBI. The paper provides an extensive discussion on how the J 2 effect can directly impact orbit selection for black hole observations and how, through informed choices of orbital parameters, the effect can be used to a mission’s advantage, a fact that has not been addressed in previous space VLBI investigations. We provide a comprehensive study of how the orbital parameters of several current space VLBI proposals will vary specifically due to the J 2 effect. For black hole accretion flow targets of interest, we demonstrate how the J 2 effect leads to a modest increase in shorter-baseline coverage, filling gaps in the (u, v) plane. Subsequently, we construct a simple analytical formalism that allows isolation of the impact of the J 2 effect on the (u, v) plane without requiring computationally intensive orbit propagation simulations. By directly constructing (u, v) coverage using J 2-affected and J 2-invariant equations of motion, we obtain distinct coverage patterns for M87* and Sgr A* that show extremely dense coverage on short baselines as well as long-term orbital stability on longer baselines. © 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.Item Photon Ring Polarimetry with Next-generation Black Hole Imaging. I. M87*(Institute of Physics, 2024) Tamar, A.; Palumbo, D.C.M.The near-horizon region of a black hole impacts linear (LP) and circular polarization (CP) through strong lensing of photons, adding large-scale symmetries and anti-symmetries to the polarized image. To probe the signature of lensing in polarimetry, we utilize a geometric model of concentric Gaussian rings of equal radius to investigate the transition in the Fourier plane at which the photon ring signal begins to dominate over the direct image. We find analytic, closed-form expressions for the transition radii in total intensity, LP, and CP, wherein the resultant formulae are composed of ratios of tunable image parameters, with the overall “scale” set primarily by the thickness of the direct image. Using these formulae, we compute the transition radii for time-averaged images of M87* simulations at 230 GHz, studying both magnetically arrested disk (MAD) and standard and normal evolution configurations for various spin and electron heating models. We compare geometric values to radii obtained directly from the simulations through a coherent averaging scheme. We find that nearly all MAD models have a photon ring-dominated CP signal on long baselines shorter than Earth's diameter at 230 GHz. Across favored models for the M87* accretion flow identified by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) polarimetric constraints, we quantify the sensitivity and antenna size requirements for the next-generation EHT and the Black Hole Explorer orbiter to detect these features. We find that the stringent requirements for CP favor explorations using long baselines on the ground, while LP remains promising on Earth-space baselines. © 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.Item Orbit design for mitigating interstellar scattering effects in Earth-space very long baseline interferometry observations of Sagittarius A(EDP Sciences, 2025) Tamar, A.; Hudson, B.; Palumbo, D.The black hole Sagittarius A? (Sgr A?) is a prime target for next-generation Earth-space very long baseline interferometry missions such as the Black Hole Explorer (BHEX), which aims to probe baselines on the order of 20 G?. At these baselines, Sgr A? observations will be affected by the diffractive scattering effects from the interstellar medium (ISM). Therefore, we study how different parameter choices for turbulence in the ISM affect BHEX's observational capabilities to probe strong lensing features of Sgr A?. By using a simple geometric model of concentric Gaussian rings for Sgr A?'s photon ring signal and observing at 320 GHz, we find that the BHEX-ALMA baseline has the required sensitivity to observe Sgr A? for a broad range of values of the power-law index of density fluctuations in the ISM and the inner scale of turbulence. For other baselines with moderate sensitivities, a strong need for observations at shorter scales of 13.5 G? is identified. For this purpose, an orbit migration scheme is proposed. It is modeled using both chemical propulsion (CP)-based Hohmann transfers and electric propulsion (EP)-based orbit raising with the result that a CP-based transfer can be performed in a matter of hours, but with a significantly higher fuel requirement as compared to EP which, however, requires a transfer time of around 6 weeks. The consequences of these orbits for probing Sgr A?'s space-time are studied by quantifying the spatial resolution, temporal resolution, and angular sampling of the photon ring signal in the Fourier coverage of each of these orbits. We show that higher orbits isolate space-time features while sacrificing both signal lost to scattering and temporal resolution, but gaining greater access to the morphology of the photon ring. Thus, we find that orbits between the low Earth regime and the reference BHEX orbit can provide rich access to Sgr A?'s parameter space. © The Authors 2025.Item Fundamental physics opportunities with future ground-based mm/sub-mm VLBI arrays(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2025) Ayzenberg, D.; Blackburn, L.; Brito, R.; Britzen, S.; Broderick, A.E.; Carballo-Rubio, R.; Cardoso, V.; Chael, A.; Chatterjee, K.; Chen, Y.; Cunha, P.V.P.; Davoudiasl, H.; Denton, P.B.; Doeleman, S.S.; Eichhorn, A.; Eubanks, M.; Fang, Y.; Foschi, A.; Fromm, C.M.; Galison, P.; Ghosh, S.G.; Gold, R.; Gurvits, L.I.; Hadar, S.; Held, A.; Houston, J.; Hu, Y.; Johnson, M.D.; Kocherlakota, P.; Natarajan, P.; Olivares Sánchez, H.; Palumbo, D.; Pesce, D.W.; Rajendran, S.; Roy, R.; Saurabh; Shao, L.; Tahura, S.; Tamar, A.; Tiede, P.; Vincent, F.H.; Visinelli, L.; Wang, Z.; Wielgus, M.; Xue, X.; Yakut, K.; Yang, H.; Younsi, Z.The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration recently published the first images of the supermassive black holes in the cores of the Messier 87 and Milky Way galaxies. These observations have provided a new means to study supermassive black holes and probe physical processes occurring in the strong-field regime. We review the prospects of future observations and theoretical studies of supermassive black hole systems. Current ground-based very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) arrays like the EHT and proposed future extensions like the next-generation Event Horizon Telescope will greatly enhance the capabilities of black-hole imaging interferometry. These enhancements will open up several previously inaccessible avenues of investigation, thereby providing important new insights into the properties of supermassive black holes and their environments. This review describes the current state of knowledge for five key science cases, summarising the unique challenges and opportunities for fundamental physics investigations that future mm/sub-mm VLBI developments will enable. © The Author(s) 2025.